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July 2015 guide to the five visible planets

Skywatcher, by Predrag Agatonovic.

Sure, Venus and Jupiter are still amazing. But they’ll soon be gone. Learn what to expect here. Plus … see Saturn, visible from nightfall until the wee hours.

Saturn is the predominant planet at present, lording over the evening sky. Technically speaking, four planets grace the evening sky in late July and early August 2015, but three of them sit in the glare of evening twilight: Mercury, Venus and Jupiter. Read more.

Venus and Jupiter in conjunction on June 30, 2015, as captured by Mohamad Fadzli in Melaka, Malaysia. Venus is the brighter one. See the little dot near Jupiter? It’s one of Jupiter’s moons!

Brilliant Venus in west from dusk until early-to-mid evening. Venus – the brightest planet and third-brightest sky object overall (after the sun and moon) – presented its closest conjunction with the giant planet Jupiter for the year in late June and early July 2015. At their closest, Jupiter and Venus were less than one moon diameter apart. Wow!

But don’t stop watching after July 1. There’s more. Venus will keep getting brighter and will display its greatest illuminated extent on July 9-10, around this time beaming at its greatest brilliancy as the evening “star.”

At mid-northern latitudes, Venus stays out for about two hours after sunset in early July, and sets about an hour after sunset by the month’s end; and at temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, Venus sets about three hours after sunset in early July, and about 1.5 hours after the sun by the month’s end. By mid-August, Venus will be gone from our evening sky. It will pass between us and the sun on August 15.

Throughout July 2015, brilliant Venus beams like a lighthouse at dusk and early evening! Be sure to catch the wonderful presence of the moon in Venus’ vicinity for several days, starting on July 17 or July 18.

By the evening of July 12, Venus and Jupiter were farther apart and lower in the western sky after sunset. Photo by Robert Kelly. Thanks, Robert!

You might or might not catch the young waxing crescent moon below Venus and Jupiter after sunset July 17.

Circle July 18, 2015, on your calendar. The waxing crescent moon, Venus, Jupiter and Regulus will convene in the west at dusk/nightfall. Read more.

Bright Jupiter from dusk until early-to-mid evening. Jupiter and Venus are spectacularly close in late June and early July, and they stay close as they fall nearer and nearer the sunset throughout July, 2015.

Venus and Jupiter shine fairly close together on the sky’s dome all through July 2015, and both Venus and Jupiter will transition over into the morning sky in August 2015.

After that, these two brilliant worlds will display their third and final conjunction of the year in the morning sky on October 26, 2015.

By a wonderful coincidence, on this same date – October 26, 2015 – Venus will reach its greatest eastern (morning) elongation from the sun, and the year’s closest grouping of three planets – Venus, Mars and Jupiter – will also take place on October 26. The next planetary trio won’t occur again until January, 2021!

Watch the moon as it swings within the neighborhood of Venus and Jupiter for several days, starting on July 17 or July 18. See the charts above.

If you have binoculars or a telescope, be sure to check out Jupiter’s four major moons, which look like pinpricks of light on or near the same plane. They are often called the Galilean moons to honor Galileo, who discovered these great Jovian moons in 1610. In their order from Jupiter, these moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

These moons circle Jupiter around the Jovian equator. In cycles of six years, we view Jupiter’s equator edge-on. So, in 2015, we get to view a number of mutual events involving Jupiter’s moons through a high-powered telescope. Click here or here or here for more details.

Mars lost in the glare of sunrise. Mars passed into the morning sky on June 14, 2015. Most likely, you won’t see Mars before sunrise until August or September 2015.

This is an excellent time to see Saturn in the night sky, since Earth recently passed between it and the sun. Photo taken June 13, 2015 by John Nelson at Puget Sound, Washington. Thanks, John!

The moon swings close to the star Spica on July 23, the star Zubenelgenubi on July 24 and the planet Saturn on July 25.

Saturn from nightfall until wee morning hours. Throughout July 2015, the golden planet Saturn transits – reaches its highest point in the sky – around sunset or dusk in the Northern Hemisphere and early evening in the Southern Hemisphere. Around the world, Saturn sets in the wee hours between midnight and dawn.

Binoculars don’t reveal Saturn’s gorgeous rings. For that, you need a small telescope.

Saturn’s rings are inclined at about 24o from edge-on in July 2015, exhibiting their northern face. A few years from now, in October 2017, the rings will open most widely, displaying a maximum inclination of 27o. As with so much in space (and on Earth), the appearance of Saturn’s rings from Earth is cyclical. In the year 2025, the rings will appear edge-on as seen from Earth. After that, we’ll begin to see the south side of Saturn’s rings, to increase to a maximum inclination of 27o by May 2032.

It shouldn’t be too difficult to catch the waning crescent moon near the star Aldebaran, but it’ll be quite the challenge to catch the shrinking lunar crescent with the planet Mercury. The green line depicts the ecliptic – the sun’s annual path in front of the constellations of the Zodiac. Read more.

Mercury at dawn, in early July. Mercury is our solar system’s innermost planet and always stays near the sun in our sky. Mercury reached its greatest morning elongation from the sun on June 24, but this world might still be glimpsed before sunrise in the first week or two of July 2015. The Southern Hemisphere has the advantage. It will be a real challenge to catch the moon and Mercury in the morning sky on July 13 and 14.

Those at northerly latitudes aren’t quite as lucky this month. Morning dawn comes sooner before sunrise during our Northern Hemisphere summer than it does in the Southern Hemisphere (where it’s winter), so Mercury is more deeply buried in the glare of the morning twilight at northerly latitudes. Try scanning with binoculars.

At temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, this world actually rises before the onset of dawn from about June 14 to July 6, 2015. Look for Mercury over the sunrise point on the horizon as darkness first gives way to dawn. Click here to find out Mercury’s rising time in your sky, and for the time at which astronomical twilight begins.

Mercury will stay in the morning sky until July 23, 2015. Then it’ll pass into the evening sky, to give the Southern Hemisphere its most favorable apparition of Mercury for the year. Mercury will be in fine view for southerly latitudes from about mid-August to mid-September 2015. At northerly latitudes, this upcoming evening apparition of Mercury in August and September is about as unfavorable as it gets.

What do we mean by visible planet? By visible planet, we mean any solar system planet that is easily visible without an optical aid and that has been watched by our ancestors since time immemorial. In their outward order from the sun, the five visible planets are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. These planets are visible in our sky because their disks reflect sunlight, and these relatively nearby worlds tend to shine with a steadier light than the distant, twinkling stars. They tend to be bright! You can spot them, and come to know them as faithful friends, if you try.

Bottom line: Three of the five visible planets are visible in the evening sky throughout July 2015: Venus, Jupiter shine in the west first thing at dusk, and Saturn lords over the southern sky as darkness falls. The diligent observer might catch Mercury in the east before sunrise in the first half of July.

View larger.| Venus near the setting sun on November 18, 2014 by Helio de Carvalho Vital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He wrote, “I managed to capture Venus as it is starting its return to dusk, despite the fact that it is still at a mere 6.2° distance from the sun. The photos show it a few minutes before setting behind the northern side of the 1,021-meter high Tijuca Peak, located some 6.5 km away. It was deeply immersed in the intense glare of the sun, that would set some 13 minutes later.”

Lunar eclipse on the night of October 8, 2014. The object to the left is the planet Uranus! This beautiful photo is by Janey Wing Kenyon of Story, Wyoming.

Debra Fryar in Calobreves, Texas captured this photo of the moon and Jupiter on May 31, 2014. Jupiter was close to the twilight then.

With only a modest backyard telescope, you can easily see Jupiter’s four largest moons. Here they are through a 10″ (25 cm) Meade LX200 telescope. Image credit: Jan Sandberg

Jupiter was rivaling the streetlights, when Mohamed Laaifat Photographies captured this photo in Normandy, France. Visit his page on Facebook.

Venus by Danny Crocker-Jensen

These are called star trails. It’s a long-exposure photo, which shows you how Earth is turning under the stars. The brightest object here is Jupiter, which is the second-brightest planet, after Venus. This awesome photo by EarthSky Facebook friend Mohamed Laaifat in Normandy, France. Thank you, Mohamed.